Superfast internet connections have boosted Virgin Media, which today beat forecasts by announcing that revenues were up by 3.3% to £980m in the fourth quarter, adding 63,600 broadband subscribers.

Overall, the provider added a net total of 28,600 households in the three months to the end of December, bringing the total signed up to 4.77m.

The 63,600 increase in broadband customers was well ahead of most analysts' expectations – the average prediction was 46,000. And even more bait for those looking for high-speed internet would come in the shape of a 100 megabit service expected later this year, the company said. The present fastest connection is 50Mb.

Virgin Media said that the increase in sign-ups was due to demand for faster internet connections, with 45% more customers on 20Mb or better than the same period in 2008 – 560,300 households. The company said that it had 41,400 subscribers to its 50Mb service at the end of December, an 81% increase on the previous quarter.

Virgin Media also said today that it intended to extend the pilot of its 200Mb service, which launched in Kent last year, to Coventry.

The company added 34,200 TV subscribers, taking customer numbers to 3.74m. It said that 112,700 more households were using its enhanced V+ high-definition digital video recorder. Video-on-demand services are used by 58% of Virgin Media's digital TV subscriber base each month.

The company said that it had added 56,900 new digital TV subscribers, but this number was pegged back to a net total of 34,200 because 22,700 analogue TV customers were disconnected.

The company's chief executive, Neil Berkett, said he expected the numbers of TV subscribers to significantly increase after the second quarter this year, following the complete shutdown of its analogue TV operation.

The company said that 60.5% of its customers paid for three services – TV, broadband and home telephone – while 10.7% of customers also had a contract with its Virgin Mobile operation, what it calls "quadplay" customers.

Average revenue per user rose 5.8% to £44.81, slightly ahead of forecasts and more than £2 per user ahead of the same period in 2008. Churn – the level of customers leaving – was just 1.2% in the fourth quarter.

Virgin Media saw a 60.5% year-on-year rise in net income from its 50% stake in UKTV to £6.9m for the quarter. Virgin Media values its stake at £360m. BBC Worldwide owns the other half of the channel.

The cable company's marketing costs were £32.8m in the final quarter of 2009, up from £28m spent in the same period the previous year, but down from the £36.1m in the three months to the end of September. Marketing costs include advertising, brand costs, public relations and agency fees.